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This week Matt our head brewer is in America, his first stop has been in San Diego visiting and brewing with Modern Times and Pizza Port Brewing Company. Whilst with Modern Times they brewed a NZ hopped bitter on their pilot kit and then brewed this year’s Rainbow Project beer, which is inspired by the colour yellow and will be barrel aged before release. Next up after meeting at their brewery tap, Pizza Port invited Matt to collab with them, designing a Paloma inspired beer which they brewed early on Wednesday morning before flying out to Miami.

This year we won a record five gold, two silver and two bronze awards at the brewers’ society North West beer awards. These included awards for overall champion of both bottled beers and cask beers – the first time in England both awards have been won by the same brewery. Windermere Pale won gold and was judged overall champion cask beer. Brodie’s Prime Export won gold and overall champion bottled beer. Lager won gold in the bottled Premium lagers & Pilsners, NZPA & Tiramisu both won silver, Sundown and Chuckleberry Sour took bronze (in their categories).

Windermere Pale was also awarded ‘Best Beer in the North West’ by CAMRA and Cumbrian Five Hop won CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain NW region Gold (Golden Ale category). At the beginning of the year we were proud to receive Cumbria Life’s Drink’s Producer of the Year award.

15TH BIRTHDAY, BEER FESTS & INVITATIONALS

We turned 15… and had a party to celebrate! We showcased breweries who were producing craft when we first began in 2002 and those who we have collaborated with over the years alongside a full range of our own beers.

That took us to 3 beer festivals this year including our spring and summer Northern Craft festivals. Our summer Northern Craft was one of our best years yet, throughout the three days of our festival 120 fresh and vibrant beers from 34 worldwide breweries were drunk at a rate of a pint every 9 seconds.

We also attended many beer fests throughout the year, including Fyne Fest, Beavertown's Extravaganza, Indy Man Beer Con, Craft Beer Calling, Thornbridge’s Peakender, Craft Beer Rising, Tiny Rebel’s Brewfest, Leeds International Beer Fest, Brett Fest in Amsterdam and Craft Beer Theory to name a few. Watch out for us at more craft beer events in 2018!

We’re getting bigger and better! Following our investment deal this year we are expanding to become a two site brewery, installing a state of the art and first of its kind in the UK, £3 million Krones brew kit. Our existing brewery at Staveley will continue production, concentrating on small batch specialist and limited edition beers. It currently produces 7,000 barrels (11,500 hectolitres) per year. This means more beer, new beer, but most importantly our beer.

Live music at The Beer Hall10th February - Molly Warburton17th February - The Seals31st March - Molly Warburton7th April - The Groove Cutters14th April - Paper Cranes12th May - Pons Aelius26th May - Jim Bean2nd June - Olta

Following our investment deal earlier this year we’re ready to announce news of our expansion…

We have agreed a deal with the global German manufacturer, Krones, to build a state-of-the-art new brewery, part of a £3 million two-site brewery expansion scheme.

Krones will install a turn-key 40 barrel (6,500 litre) rapid-batch brewhouse, capable of multiple brews per day, on a site near the existing brewery in South Cumbria.

Our existing brewery at Staveley will continue production, concentrating on small batch specialist and limited edition beers. It currently produces 7,000 barrels (11,500 Hectolitres) per year.

Head Brewer Matt Clarke said: “Our current 20 barrel plant is the perfect size for innovation and experimentation. But we also need more volume. By adding the new Krones-Steinecker brew house, the best in the business, we will free up space at Staveley for more small-batch projects, including our barrel ageing programme. For the first time, we will have space, space to breathe and to grow.”

The new brewery will be built on a site owned by our parent company, Halewood International, whose CEO Stewart Hainsworth, said “Hawkshead make great beers and cannot keep up with demand. We are investing both in a new brewery and in the existing one – to grow Hawkshead but also to protect and develop its wide portfolio of innovative limited edition beers. Hawkshead is the real thing - an authentic modern craft brewery. We want to keep it that way, as it expands.”

Founder and Managing Director, Alex Brodie said: “The brewery is 15 years old and it has been straining at the leash for years. Halewood’s backing allows us to go to the next level.”

“Hawkshead is known for its commitment to cask ale, which is 65% of current output,” said Brodie. “We will be expanding production of keg, can and bottle, but we will also grow cask. Cask ale is Britain’s craft. We believe in it and, more to the point, so do most beer lovers, especially here in the North.”

Mark Heath, Sales Director of Krones UK, said: “This is an important and innovative project for us. It’s our first 40 barrel MicroCube system in the UK. It will be a showcase for us, demonstrating how rapid-batch brewing can future-proof a modern small brewery, giving it volume without the need to install a huge brew-house. We are delighted to have won the contract to help grow Hawkshead’s impressive range of flavoursome beers.”